Fighting reported in Afghan border town

Fighting has broken out between Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and people in the western Afghan border town of Zaranj, …

Fighting has broken out between Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and people in the western Afghan border town of Zaranj, Iran's official IRNA news agency reports.

It said, quoting Afghan sources, some 150 Afghans had decided to capture the town from the Taliban. Zaranj, in the far southwest corner of Afghanistan, lies on the frontier with Iran close to where the two countries' borders meet that of Pakistan.

A local Afghan opposition commander based in the nearby Iranian city of Zahedan, Haji Karim Barahouei, was rushing to the area, the agency said.

The region is dominated by the Baluchi ethnic group that lives in the remote arid region astride the borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.